In a previous update, GAJE wrote about the newly-formed Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism (ALCCA). The Alliance is “a coalition of community groups, organizations, and individuals who are concerned about the sharp rise in antisemitic activity in Canada…especially since the attacks of October 7th, 2023.”  

One of the driving forces behind the Alliance is renowned criminal lawyer and human rights advocate, Mark Sandler. Sandler wrote the Alliance’s most recent newsletter: October 7 and Beyond: A Canadian Call to Action, in which he urges the members of the coalition, indeed all Canadians to “redouble our efforts to strike decisive blows against hate in Canada.” He therefore renews his call for urgent action against the hatred that strives to insinuate itself into the institutions of our society. 

The newsletter is a manifesto as well as a blueprint for community action. One of its key sections deals with education, which Sandler writes, “should take place in a safe environment, free from intimidation, indoctrination and demonization.”  

Bullying and intimidation of some Jewish students within public schools are not imaginary. They are well documented, as is the resulting inhospitable environment in those schools for those children. It is because of the inclusion of Education in the ALCCA’s call to action that GAJE brings the newsletter to the attention of our readers.  

Sandler writes without any ambiguity. 

“Make no mistake about it. The work to be done here [in Education] is not confined to colleges and universities. Toxic environments for Jewish students and others at risk exist in our public and secondary schools. Unprecedented overt antisemitism is perpetrated by teachers, teachers’ unions, and in some instances, school board trustees. (Our emphasis) 

 
“Recent events at Toronto District School Board are illustrative, where students appear to have been conscripted, contrary to the terms of parental consent, to participate in an anti-Israel rally, sometimes dressed to represent colonizers. The Minister of Education appropriately ordered an external investigation, but there is much cause to believe that this event merely represents one of many incidents that undermine the safety and security and sense of belonging of Jewish students and faculty. Regardless of one’s views on diversity, equity and inclusion, a point of division in many circles, Jews cannot be excluded from policies designed to promote inclusion, particularly when they represent the community most victimized by hate crimes and other hate activities.  

 
“This coming year, we need to see greater legal and disciplinary accountability for antisemitism in our education system at all levels. And provincial governments who take steps, alongside allies within the school systems, to ensure that age-inappropriate geopolitical discussions do not take place in classrooms, teachers follow an established curriculum, teachers and unions do not indoctrinate, and students are not conscripted to adopt views on controversial issues.” 

GAJE commends ALCCA. The Association’s approach of stalwart resolve and determined action in opposing the purveyors of hatred is exemplary and inspiring.  

We too, can act. We too, must act. We must join the fight. Read the newsletter. Subscribe to it. 

The most recent ALCCA newsletter is available at: 

https://www.alcca.ca/post/october-7-and-beyond-a-canadian-call-to-action?utm_campaign=b9ccfabb-78b9-4f89-9eec-e6a64575c962&utm_source=so&utm_medium=mail&cid=e2d75b75-c8ae-4fd9-8379-6f7a73335d53

••• 

On September 10, a three-member panel of the Divisional Court agreed with the Province of Ontario that GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding should be dismissed. On September 25, GAJE filed a Notice of Motion seeking leave to appeal the court’s decision.  

••• 

If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding, please click here.  

For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com  

Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit. 

••• 

Shabbat shalom. Gmar Chatimah Tovah. Am Yisrael Chai  

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE) 

October 11, 2024 

(Written on October 1^st)

It is, alas, true, that since the first day of its birth more than 76 years ago, the State of Israel has never known even one day of full peace within the region. It is also true that, apart from during the War of Independence, the State of Israel has never had to face an assault of ballistic or any other missiles of death on the eve of Rosh Hashanah.

Thus, borrowing from another biblical holiday, we are entitled to acknowledge and to ask: why is New Year 5785 different than all other New Years. The holy day of New Year 5785 arrives as the State of Israel is fighting for its very existence as a sovereign Jewish state in the Moslem Middle East.

Not all the countries of the Middle East wish Israel’s elimination. But some do. And as we have seen through the years, and especially in the past 12 months, these countries act according to their malevolent wishes to achieve their evil aim.

Though Israel bears the overwhelming brunt of the physical and emotional peril wrought by the hatred directed at them, Jews everywhere – since Simchat Torah last year – have also been tested. We are still being tested.

On October 8, 2023 and increasingly after that date, we were taken aback by the outpouring of the anti-Jewish hatred that appeared throughout the western world even before Israel had sent any soldiers into Gaza to fight the Hamas murderers: its ubiquity in the public domain; its pre-planned, calculated nature; its vehemence; its unembarrassed, unfiltered, open calls for the annihilation of the Jewish state and its people; its quick, seamless transmogrification from anti-Israel protest into brazen bullying and intimidation of Jews; and the timid, equivocal, ineffectual responses by elected officials feigning to stop hatred against Jews.

But being taken aback did – does – not mean being stymied or paralyzed from doing the right thing at home to fight against that hatred. For GAJE, doing the right thing is trying to help Jews engage more fully with their Judaism, to help as many of us as possible discover some or any of the myriad paths to feelings of connectedness and of shared destiny with the Jewish people.

The late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks eloquently described the mechanics of achieving those feelings of connectedness. “A person is part of a larger historical context and must understand that context and tradition. We are not disconnected fragments of humanity, but are part of an extended family. We gain strength and resilience when we know who we are, where we belong.

Praise belongs to teachers who understand the need for children to spend quality time with their families. Praise belongs to parents and grandparents who genuinely relate to their children and grandchildren in a loving manner, giving generously of their time, listening patiently to the children and grandchildren. Praise belongs to those who value genuine communication, who understand how precious it is to spend quality time with the young generations. Praise belongs to those who understand their history and family traditions, and who find meaningful and happy ways of transmitting these things to their family members. Praise belongs to the nation that understands where it has come from, what it has undergone, where it is headed.”

To paraphrase Rabbi Sacks, and as GAJE has emphasized and re-emphasized over the years, meaningful, long-lasting, individual engagement and connectedness emerge most effectively through Jewish education.

Thus, as we prepare to greet Rosh Hashana 5785, it is our hope that at least part of our emotional response to the sounds of the shofar will be new or strengthened feelings of belonging to the Jewish people, and the commitment to stand alongside other Jews against the purveyors of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish hate.

•••

In a decision released September 10, a three-member panel of the Divisional Court agreed with the Province of Ontario that GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding should be dismissed. On September 25, GAJE filed a Notice of Motion seeking leave to appeal the court’s decision.

•••

If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding, please click here.

For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com

Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.

•••

Shana Tovah

Shabbat shalom

Am Yisrael Chai

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)

October 2, 2024

In last week’s update GAJE reported on an initiative by the Yael Foundation aimed at enhancing the skills and abilities principals of Jewish schools around the world to enable them to enrich the learning experience of their respective schools.

The Foundation’s website described its mission as, “to enable a Jewish child in any city and in any community, small or large, to receive prestigious and value-oriented Jewish and general education. “As of last summer, the Yael Foundation is supporting Jewish education…in 28 countries on all continents.”

The initiative is based upon the proven notion that investing in school principals is one of the most effective ways to improve education. 

This week, GAJE brings supporters’ attention to a companion piece about the importance and even the urgency of Jewish education written by Naomi Kovitz, deputy director of the Yael Foundation. Entitled, Education should be the response to the threats of our enemies – opinion,

it appeared in the Jerusalem Post on September 9.

We reproduce Kovitz’ op-ed because we share its message.

The following are brief excerpts.

“In Israel and among Jewish students around the world, our children are exposed to the horrors of war, hate, and violence, and so it is the responsibility of educators to create a space that both addresses the issues but also shelters them and creates positivity, fostering leadership and empowering the next generation of leaders.

“This allows our children to navigate the uncertainty and fears they are bombarded with at home, online and on the streets, in a more developmentally healthy manner. We often say that children are our future, and they will be tomorrow’s leaders, but we also have to consider the here and now, because today matters.

“That is why it is our foundational doctrine that all Jewish children should have access to high-quality Jewish and general education regardless of their geographic location or community size.

Especially now, with antisemitism at record levels globally, many Jewish parents around the world are removing or considering removing their children from their local schools and exploring options for Jewish educational institutions.”

Kovitz emphasizes the very important point that “every single day counts, educationally, socially and structurally, in the life of a child in school.”

Again, GAJE agrees.

•••

In a decision released September 10, a three-member panel of the Divisional Court agreed with the Province of Ontario that GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding should be dismissed. GAJE will seek leave to appeal this decision.

•••

If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding, please click here.

For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com

Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.

•••

Shabbat shalom

Am Yisrael Chai

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)

September 27, 2024

GAJE has written in the past about the recent surge in efforts by Jews of all ages and levels of communal affiliations across North America to enhance their knowledge of Judaism and to join in and experience the sense of Jewish peoplehood that might have been lacking to date in their lives.

The surge is directly traceable to the assault on Jews and on the State of Israel that has sprung to sordid life on streets, campuses, union halls and media newsrooms throughout the West. Ironically, in their efforts to do away with the Jewish people and the ancestral/modern Jewish State, the haters are actually driving a campaign of Jewish “growth” and “renewal” in all realms of Jewish life.

Philanthropists, educators and Jewish school administrators in the Jewish world have taken note of the surge and are trying to put in place systems to substantively pivot from and appropriately accommodate the changes occurring in our lives.

One such effort was reported last month in the Jerusalem Post. It told of an initiative by the Yael Foundation aimed at enhancing the skills and abilities principals of Jewish schools around the world to enable them to enrich the learning experience of their respective schools.

According to its website, “the Yael Foundation was created in 2020 by Jewish philanthropists Uri and Yael Poliavich, relying on their vision of the global Jewish community as one family bound by shared values and a commitment to mutual support. Our Foundation is committed to enable a Jewish child in any city and in any community, small or large, to receive prestigious and value-oriented Jewish and general education. As of Summer 2023, Yael Foundation is supporting more than 50 schools, kindergartens, Sunday schools and afterschools, and special educational initiatives in 28 countries on all continents.”

The initiative is based upon the proven notion that investing in school principals is one of the most effective ways to improve education. 

“Principals are the directors of their schools; everything derives from their ability to educate and innovate in impactful ways,” said Uri Poliavich, co-founder of the Yael Foundation. “This program is a direct and lasting investment in a strong and enduring future for Jewish education around the world. Jewish students receiving a high-quality Jewish education has always been important, but especially now, with the upsurge of interest in Jewish schools, it is absolutely essential.”

Chaya Yosovich, CEO of the Yael Foundation, places this latest effort to enhance and constantly improve Jewish education in its proper context: “We are seeing a surge of interest in applications for Jewish schools around the world, and we know that much of this interest is driven by anti-Semitic intimidation and fear. The challenge for those involved in Jewish education is ensuring that Jewish schools need to be more than just a haven from threats or abuse; they should be centers of excellence, competing with the best non-Jewish schools in their countries or regions. We want parents and prospective students to run towards our schools and not run away from other schools.”

GAJE agrees with Yosovich’s approach. She has described a key aspiration for all Jewish education. We bring this initiative to the attention of our readers because we deeply believe that knowing more of how Jewish communities worldwide is responding to these difficult days, is important. We can more easily find strength and hope, if not quite optimism, in knowing that Jews throughout the world are standing together, side by side, to resist the haters.

The article about the initiative can be found at:

https://www.jpost.com/j-spot/article-817126?utm_source=jpost.app.apple&utm_medium=share

•••

In a decision released September 10, a three-member panel of the Divisional Court agreed with the Province of Ontario that GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding should be dismissed. GAJE will seek leave to appeal this decision.

•••

If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding, please click here.

For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com

Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.

•••

Shabbat shalom

Am Yisrael Chai

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)

September 20, 2024

The headline above says it all. And cuts very deeply.

A three-member panel of the Divisional Court agreed with the Province of Ontario that GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding should be dismissed. In arriving at this decision, the court set aside Judge Eugenia Papageorgiou’s decision in late 2023, dismissing Ontario’s motion to strike the application, saying that it was not plain and obvious that the application would fail.

Judge Papageorgiou ruled that the SCC’s Adler decision in 1996 might be eligible for review in light of the circumstances and legal developments that have occurred since 1996. She made no ruling regarding the substance of GAJE’s claim. Instead, she decided that there were good reasons to let GAJE’s claim receive a full hearing on its merits. In other words, she dismissed Ontario’s assertion that the application was doomed to fail. Ontario appealed this ruling.

We will offer no comments upon the Divisional Court’s reasoning overturning Judge Papageorgiou’s decision. Suffice to say, GAJE disagrees with the court’s analysis and conclusion.

We do however comment again, how deep is our disappointment that the Government of Ontario, will not even abide a hearing of GAJE’s claim. We do comment again that Ontario is the only province, apart from the Atlantic provinces, that contributes nothing toward the education of its children in independent schools, while paying for the entire K-12 education of the children in Roman Catholic schools.

And so, we ask again: how is this fair in 2024? How does open, though legally-protected discrimination not offend the conscience of the premier and/or of the Minister of Education? How can Ontario truthfully say that it honours and ensures the equal worth of all its children?

It cannot.

GAJE will fight on. We have instructed our counsel to seek leave to appeal. We will pursue every legal avenue, until the end.

•••

If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding, please click here.

For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com

Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.

•••

Shabbat shalom

Am Yisrael Chai

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)

September 13, 2024

On May 14, 2024, the Ministry of Education updated its memorandum to schools and to the public on Creating safe and accepting schools: resources for schools and school boards. The memorandum – on the ministry’s website – contains nine parts, the fifth of which deals with “Bullying detection and prevention”.

This section on bullying states: “School boards should use these strategies to prevent and address incidents of bullying at school and to foster a positive learning environment.” It then directs readers to two specific policies on the subject.

• Policy/Program Memorandum 144: Bullying Prevention and Intervention and,

• Bullying – we can all stop it – a guide for elementary and secondary students.

Program Memorandum 144, is a substantive, even fastidious, procedural document that sets down a comprehensive administrative framework for school staff and administrators. It was published on May, 2021 and updated July 24, 2023.

Bullying – we can all stop it, is an in-depth, highly readable, introductory primer on the subject of bullying. It was published November 13, 2019 and updated May 1, 2024.

This was the institutional educational background against which Toronto high school student, Hannah Schwartz, last summer, bravely wrote her letter published in the Toronto Star, that decried the blatant discrimination and constant bullying she suffered in her school because on account of her religion. “What many people may not know,” she wrote, “is that right now it’s hard to be a Jewish kid at just about any school in Canada.” (See the GAJE update July 12, 2024.)

It is important to point out that Hannah experienced the bullying despite the existence of the two Education ministry policies on bullying.

Hannah was courageous and eloquent in describing some of her harrowing experiences. “Before the Israel-Hamas war broke out, I didn’t fully realize what antisemitism was. I knew it as an abstract thing, but I had never come face to face with it myself. Then Oct. 7 arrived and everything changed. I began to notice small hurtful comments from my peers about my religion and culture, and then bigger more painful comments. One of my peers started calling me “Jew” instead of my name. They thought it would be funny to scream it at me in the hallways. And then another told me: “I wish Hitler was back,” and “I wish your whole family had died in a gas chamber.” 

“…The bullying and Jew hatred is hard enough but what is almost just as hard to see is the impact this experience has had on my friends. I notice that some of my Jewish classmates who were once proud of their identity now feel uncomfortable with it. They are scared to be “too” Jewish in public. And for those of us who are proud to be Jewish and show it, many of our peers shun us.”

With youthful, guile-free candor, Hannah concluded her letter with a plea to civil society to help bring about an end to bullying, intimidation and erasure. “…(T)he response from school leaders and politicians feels quiet, like the whole country is a bystander to this bullying. This feels so wrong, like a betrayal of the lessons we were raised on….Yes, we need to be safe from hate and violence. But there’s something we need just as much, now more than ever. We need allies, not bystanders.”

Enrollment in elementary and high schools has increased this year from last by more than 200 students. This is the fourth consecutive year that enrollment in Jewish schools has increased. But it is likely true, given the published testimonies by students and parents (See: Hannah Schwartz’ letter) and reports of the in-creeping and adoption of antisemitic notions and tropes into school board policies (See: the debates surrounding APR) that some Jewish students are departing public schools, at least in part, because they and their parents wish to avoid having to contend with the menace of antisemitism.

Thus, this week when all children have returned to their public schools, GAJE recalls and reiterates Hannah’s brave, clarion plea. It feels like “the whole country is a bystander to this bullying”.

We do not wish to hear the cliched nostrums that politicians and others in leadership positions prefer to utter such as: “There is no place in Canada for racism, antisemitism….” Or, “Canadians are better than this….”. Such words are the quick, vacuous, sound-byte proclamations that mean essentially, nothing.

School leaders and politicians, including the Minister of Education must actually act to ensure antisemitic bullying specifically is eliminated from public schools and public spaces. Yet, there were no back-to-school pronouncements this week by politicians and especially by the Minister of Education, warning against a reversion to or re-embrace of antisemitic behaviour in our schools, in school playgrounds or on our streets. This is much the pity, for the sake of the youngsters who will once again feel unsafe and unwanted in the halls of Ontario’s schools and indeed, for the sake of Ontario, whose society is also being targeted by the haters who target Jews.

We hope the Minister of Education will at least enforce the ministry’s own policies to eliminate intimidation in schools, ie, Bullying – we can all stop it, and Program Memorandum 144.

That is not too much to ask of the government. And that would be a good start.

•••

The appeal by the Government of Ontario of Judge Eugenia Papageorgiou’s refusal last summer to throw out GAJE’s application for fairness in educational funding, was heard in early June by a panel of three judges. The court reserved its decision.

GAJE will publish the court’s decision as soon as it is known to us.

•••

If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding, please click here.

For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com

Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.

•••

Shabbat shalom

Am Yisrael Chai

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)

September 6, 2024

The school year returns next week for most students of all ages. It is an exciting and nerve-wracking time for many of our children. But with a loving hug, friendly pat on the back and timely words of encouragement, the kids seem always able to get past the first-day butterflies.

It will not be the same, however, for the institutions and ordinary folk to get as easily past the anti-Jewish, anti-Israel and anti-democracy actions and demonstrations that have been reported to await the post-summer return to the routine rhythms of our society. Campus protesters have rolled up their tents. But they prepare to unfurl other flags of hatred and to incite behaviours entirely antithetical to core western values.

It is therefore important that GAJE supporters and readers of this update be made aware of a newly formed, widely based group that is determined to fight antisemitism and, in the process, stand up for and to protect western values. We should know that there are others – indeed many others – who recognize that the fight against antisemitism is also a fight on behalf of democracy. Thus, as a form of public service announcement, GAJE brings to its supporters, news of the recent formation of the Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism (ALCCA). (The following information is from the Coalition’s website.)

ALCCA is “a coalition of 28 organizations and many more individuals dedicated to combatting the unprecedented levels of antisemitism in Canada. Each member organization brings expertise and dedication – and a great deal of voluntarism – to our work. The coalition includes:

Honest Reporting Canada, Jewish Educators and Families Association (JEFA), Secure Canada, StandWithUs (Canada), Bring Love (A Catholic organization), Temple Sinai, Lawyers for Secure Immigration, Human Rights Action Group, Canadian Jewish Advocacy (CIJA), StartUp Nation, Hillel Ontario, Allied Voices for Israel (AVI), Canadian Union of Jewish Students (CUPS), Holy Blossom Temple, Lawyers Combating Antisemitism, Council of Muslims Against Antisemitism, End Jew Hatred, Network of Engaged Canadian Academics (NECA), Canadian Women Against Antisemitism (CWAA), Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation (CAEF), Jewish Parents of Ottawa Students Association (JPOSA), Manitoba Israeli Coalition, Jewish Medical Association of Ontario (JMAO), Winnipeg Friends of Israel (WFI), The Jewish Medical Association of British Columbia (JMABC), Ottawa Against Antisemitism, Jewish Physicians Association of Manitoba (JPAM), Association des Médecins Juifs Du  Québec (AMJQ). 

Guided by five principles:
1.      We believe in the power of working together. When Jewish communities and democratic values are at risk, we must coordinate our efforts. Otherwise, we remain ineffective.
2.      We support the IHRA definition of antisemitism. The definition, adopted by many countries including Canada, recognizes that it is not antisemitic to criticize Israel’s government, policies or practices in a manner similar to how other countries are criticized. However, it is antisemitic to demonize Israel, the world’s only Jewish democratic state, and Zionists, who include the vast majority of Jews, without distinction. 
3.      We believe in respectful dialogue with those who disagree with us. But we reject hatred in all its ugly forms, including intimidation, harassment and the celebration of violence or barbarity.
4.      We believe that Canadians have a duty to reject all forms of extremism. This is not just a “Jewish” issue, it is a “Canadian” issue.
5.      We believe that protecting our children, including students in kindergarten to those in universities and colleges is our highest priority. They are entitled to embrace their Jewish identities, without fear. Their voices need to be heard and supported.

“Too many Jews and their allies feel helpless in the face of pervasive, unprecedented antisemitism, hatred and extremism. They don’t know how to respond. At times, they are frustrated by perceived inaction or feel uninformed about what action is being taken or what is effective. All that must change.”

The ALCCA website is: www.alcca.ca

The sie explains how we can stay informed about this stark threat to our society and how we can become involved in the battle to protect it. Let us join the battle. There is strength in numbers. And confidence. And resolve.

•••

The appeal by the Government of Ontario of Judge Eugenia Papageorgiou’s refusal last summer to throw out GAJE’s application for fairness in educational funding, was heard in early June by a panel of three judges. The court reserved its decision.

GAJE will publish the court’s decision as soon as it is known to us.

•••

If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding, please click here.

For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com

Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.

•••

Shabbat shalom

Am Yisrael Chai

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)

August 30, 2024

There is strength in numbers, in shared experiences and in the remarkable self-supporting structure of community. Since October 7, we know this and we feel it deeply.

That is one of the key reasons that community professionals here and in the United States have reported a “surge” in attempts by Jews across all ages to seek some sort of community affiliation.

Many are newly seeking a way to discover, enrich and/or sustain their sense of Jewish belonging.

It is therefore not a surprise to read of a new initiative (eJP, August 21, 2024) in Jewish education in the United States that is aimed at bringing more children into Jewish day schools, specifically non-Orthodox Jewish day schools.

The initiative is called the Ronald S. Lauder Impact Inititiave (LII). When stripped to its narrowest definition, it is the latest publicized effort to “raise” more Jews. At the moment, the initiative has launched a pilot program in five schools in four cities in the U.S. It is also being supported by the Israeli government through the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs.

According to the story in eJP, the program is based upon the Lauder Foundation’s work in Eastern and Central Europe, where it supports over 30 Jewish educational institutions. “I have a dream that all Jewish children will be educated to become engaged and proud Jews,” Lauder said in a statement. “In Europe, I helped revitalize Jewish life by building and growing kindergartens, schools and camps. My dream in the U.S. is that Jewish parents will understand that they can make the choice today to secure their child’s Jewish future; Jewish day schools are the best option for creating strong Jewish identities and preparing the next generation of Jewish leaders. Nothing is more important for the future of our children, our grandchildren, and our people.”

Paul Bernstein, the CEO of Prizmah, an umbrella group for Jewish day schools of all denominations, notes that the events of Oct. 7 are affecting the decisions regarding communal involvement by individual Jewish families. He sees increased interest in enrollment in Jewish day schools in response to antisemitism and increased Jewish communal engagement more generally. He added that “the big question for our community right now is how we develop what comes next?”

GAJE agrees. How do we channel the coalescing energy and the steel-hard will within the Jewish community to counter the malevolent ones wishing harm upon us and Israel? Jewish education for as many as possible is inescapably part of what must come next.

The eJP article is available at:

Ronald Lauder-backed initiative looks to boost non-Orthodox Jewish day schools amid enrollment crisis

•••

The appeal by the Government of Ontario of Judge Eugenia Papageorgiou’s refusal last summer to throw out GAJE’s application for fairness in educational funding, was heard in early June by a panel of three judges. The court reserved its decision.

GAJE will publish the court’s decision as soon as it is known to us.

•••

If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding, please click here.

For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com

Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.

•••

Shabbat shalom

Am Yisrael Chai

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)

August 23, 2024

It is – or should be – incontrovertible that Jewish education is one of the essential tools for creating Jews who will be knowledgeable about their heritage, proud to belong to their ancient/modern people, secure and joyful in expressing their belonging, and unwavering in standing with the Jewish people.

Such Jews – allied with all peoples who care for and are willing to protect democracy and law-based freedoms – are required to take up the fight against the forces that are intent on negating Jews and the State of Israel. This is the true light in which the current, hateful campaign against Israel being waged by the hard-core anti-Semites and their unwitting, uninformed confederates must be seen. The pro-Hamas crowd has a multiple overlapping target: The State of Israel, Jews, America and democratic rule.                                    

It is in this context that a report in JNS on August 13 of an interim decision by a judge in California adjudicating upon a lawsuit by three aggrieved Jewish students against UCLA, is like a bolt of electricity restoring the recent power outages in moral behaviour by established figures and institutions throughout the western world. GAJE publishes excerpts from the report because of its exceptional and very important nature.

The facts of the UCLA case will sound familiar.

Pro-Hamas demonstrators sent up an encampment on the campus and prevented Jews and other supporters of Israel from having access to parts of the campus which should have been accessible to all students. The university sought an injunction to prevent the lawsuit from proceeding.

Judge Mark Scarsi, of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, rejected the university’s argument. He began his judgment with the following statement of moral astonishment.

“In the year 2024, in the United States of America, in the State of California, in the City of Los Angeles, Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith.”

“This fact is so unimaginable and so abhorrent to our constitutional guarantee of religious freedom that it bears repeating, Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith,” Scarsi continued. “UCLA does not dispute this. Instead, UCLA claims that it has no responsibility to protect the religious freedom of its Jewish students because the exclusion was engineered by third-party protesters.”

Under principles of the Constitution, the University of California, Los Angeles — a public school — “may not allow services to some students when UCLA knows that other students are excluded on religious grounds, regardless of who engineered the exclusion,” the judge continued.

Judge Scarsi issued a preliminary injunction that requires UCLA to stop providing “ordinarily available programs, activities and campus areas” to the entire student body if they become unavailable to certain Jewish students. “How best to make any unavailable programs, activities and campus areas available again is left to UCLA’s discretion,” he wrote.

The judge wrote that because of the encampments, Jewish students—including the three plaintiffs—felt that they had to “disavow” their religious beliefs to move freely on campus and that they “were excluded based of their genuinely held religious beliefs,” in support of the Jewish state, per the judge’s order. (Our emphasis)

The comparison begs to be made with the decision in the U of T encampment case.

The judge decided that the encampment had to be dismantled on the basis of the narrow principles of property law and trespass. In a lengthy, troubling aside however, relying upon questionable authorities, he determined that the slogans, phrases and language of intimidation emanating from the encampment participants aimed primarily at supporters of Israel and other passersby were not necessarily antisemitic. He wrote: “I do not have to determine how these phrases and symbols are being used. I review this history and analysis merely to point out that the automatic conclusion that those phrases are antisemitic is not justified; especially not on an interlocutory injunction.” (Our emphasis)

This statement by the judge in the U of T case is simply unreconcilable with reality and truth.

What we felt then about the encampments and feel still today was succinctly summarized by Mark Rienzi, a lawyer representing the Jewish students in the UCLA case. “Shame on UCLA for letting antisemitic thugs terrorize Jews on campus. Today’s ruling says that UCLA’s policy of helping antisemitic activists target Jews is not just morally wrong but a gross constitutional violation. UCLA should stop fighting the Constitution and start protecting Jews on campus.”

With university resuming in two weeks, it is incumbent upon the community to prepare for what will surely be a resumption of vile anti-Israel and anti-Jewish activities. In age-appropriate ways, schools must prepare their students. Parents must prepare their children, to know and to celebrate their Jewishness.

•••

The appeal by the Government of Ontario of Judge Eugenia Papageorgiou’s refusal last summer to throw out GAJE’s application for fairness in educational funding, was heard in early June by a panel of three judges. The court reserved its decision.

GAJE will publish the court’s decision as soon as it is known to us.

•••

If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding, please click here.

For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com

Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.

•••

Shabbat shalom

Am Yisrael Chai

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)

August 16, 2024

The disbelief, shock and anger felt by Jews, as a result of the very public and very brazen manifestations of anti-Jewish, anti-Israel hatred, have generated consultations and group discussions in Jewish homes, synagogues, schools and office boardrooms at home and abroad. What is the best way to deal with the outrageous affronts to Jewish life?

Within the wide swath of opinions among professionals and “ordinary” folk regarding the path ahead, there is wide consensus on one preferred course of action as a rebuke to the anti-Semites. Lisa Popik Coll and Gail Norry, Prizmah Board Chair and Vice Chair, respectively, expressed it succinctly.  “The best way to fight antisemitism is with Jewish pride and Jewish joy.”

Coll and Norry wrote this prescription in an article entitled, “The next billion-dollar gift” – discussed in this space two weeks ago – that urged philanthropists to try to make Jewish education entirely affordable, if not free, for families that seek it for their children. Their bold suggestion has attracted positive attention. 

Rabbi Moshe Hauer, Executive Vice President of the Orthodox Union, agreed that Jewish education can indeed benefit by the boost that such “transformative philanthropy” would provide. (See “Transformational gifts for our schools and homes”, eJP, July 22)

In an essay that appeared on the eJP website last week,Rachel Mohl Abrahams, senior advisor for education grants and programs at the Mayberg Foundation, also placed her imprimatur of support upon the Coll, Norry proposal. In “Investing in transformational Jewish day school experiences”. But she went even further pleading for generous philanthropy to ensure access to Jewish schools as well as the best outcomes possible from those schools.

“Philanthropy plays a critical role in ensuring that students enter day schools, and that families can afford for their children to stay there…We need to [also] guarantee that the education provided, impacts students’ lives, and especiallytheir connection to Judaism.”

To be sure, Abrahams wrote about specific programs and approaches at the Mayberg Foundation where she is an advisor, in addition to buttressing the general importance, if not urgency, to bring as many children to Jewish education. She extolled certain dedicated teacher training programs sponsored by the foundation aimed at helping develop the best teachers possible.

“The best educators help students make Judaism applicable to their lives in engaging, contemporary and customizable ways, and advancing excellence in the field of day school education depends upon a vigorous commitment to ongoing professional growth of teachers and school leaders. If we want our classrooms to be places of relevance, acceptance and spiritual nourishment, we must invest in the people who have committed their lives to the holy work of Jewish education”, Abrahams wrote.

“Funders… can convey a clear expectation that Jewish education delivers a package of foundational wisdom, values and relationship building that empowers every student and builds positive Jewish identity, in addition to providing skills training and exposing students to Jewish texts. We need to partner with one another and with professionals.” 

Abrahams reinforces the need to “raise” our children knowledgeable about their Judaism if they are to be able to stand up to the haters of Israel and of Jews. Raising our children Jewishly requires excellent Jewish education. And so, she urges the philanthropic world to invest in local and national Jewish educational infrastructure with educator training to create the best Jewish education possible.

GAJE shares Abrahams’ views. And that is why we call readers’ attention to her article. She has elegantly re-iterated the prescription for contending with the modern Jewish condition. 

The Abrahams article is available at:

Investing in transformational Jewish day school experiences

•••

The appeal by the Government of Ontario of Judge Eugenia Papageorgiou’s refusal last summer to throw out GAJE’s application for fairness in educational funding, was heard in early June by a panel of three judges. The court reserved its decision.

GAJE will publish the court’s decision as soon as it is known to us.

•••

If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding, please click here.

For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com

Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.

•••

Shabbat shalom.

Am Yisrael Chai.

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)

August 9, 2024